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Monday, January 28, 2013

Welcome to my stop on the Indigo Awakening blog tour hosted by YA Bound. Click HERE to see the rest of the blog tour schedule!

The Indigo Awakening World

To create a vivid book, I like to research real locations for local color. Much of the initial action in INDIGO AWAKENING takes place in West Hollywood and the Sunset strip. LA is amazing - a vibrant energized sprawling city. What are some of my impressions and real locations that made it into the book? Pink’s Hot Dogs, the vibe of Sunset Strip, tall palm trees lining the freeways, the Viper Room (renamed the Copperhead Club), the LA County Museum of Art that looks like a human spine, Griffith Park, the abandoned LA Zoo, and the Bristol Mountains (east of LA) where the fictional Stewart Estate is located.

But here are the photos I used to inspire some key scenes. These first images are from the abandoned LA zoo located in Griffith Park.

Excerpt - When Rayne Darby got farther into the park, closer to the larger bear and lion habitats, she took a deep breath and prepared for the worst—the underground tunnels. If her brother Lucas wanted shelter and a solid place to hide, unfortunately for her he would've headed for the belowground maze. His favorite part. It was the last place she wanted to be at night, but for Lucas, she had to risk it. It's what he would've done. The way he was, Lucas didn't see demons in the zoo tunnels, like most people would have. He chose to see adventure and possibility—and the beauty in nature reclaiming the grounds.

Guided only by the narrow beam of her flashlight, she found the yawning mouth of the tunnels and headed down. Every step she took, her boots crunched on decayed leaves that littered the stone stairway. Spiny fingers of dead vines marred the walls and covered over the street art of painted skulls and gang signs. In daylight, the art was impressive—almost like a church—but at night the images looked like hell, literally.

In every author brain, there are dark and scary recesses. While I researched what setting I wanted for Indigo Awakening, I found out that there are eleven miles of below ground passages under downtown LA. These tunnels are a maze of abandoned railroad tracks, vehicle overpasses through foothills, or secret passages built during the time of Prohibition to transport illegal alcohol. Hollywood types shoot movies in some of them, like the Matrix. But in this scary dark setting, the Indigo children find safety and a home, thanks to one of their own, Kendra Walker. She creates an oasis beyond the prying eyes of those who wouldn’t understand how they live.

One of the coolest places in this underground Indigo stronghold is Kendra Walker’s private quarters. In her room I imagined there is a turn-of-the-century railroad station mural painted on the wall instead of the beautiful graffiti art depicted here.

Excerpt - When his vision cleared enough for him to see farther, Lucas Darby looked up and got lost in what he saw over his head. A faded mural of an old railroad station stretched across a high wall. It had passengers dressed in turn-of-the-century clothing and the wall painting had been done over red bricks that had chipped off through the years. The damage made an odd pattern, sparking his mind to look for animal shapes in the missing pieces like he did when he saw clouds drift across a summer sky.

It reminded him of the elaborate street graffiti painted on the tunnel walls at the old Griffith Park Zoo, only the vast mural looked like something found in a museum.

The mysterious runaway, Gabriel Stewart, has a peculiar past that involves the Stewart Estate in the Bristol Mountains, east of LA. Here is how I imagined the outside to look. Later in the YA Bound V-tour, I will take followers inside this mansion to see some of the rooms.

Excerpt - As the dirt road flattened out, they rounded a curve and Rayne got a glimpse of lights on the horizon. When they got closer, she slowed down for a better look. A massive stone wall surrounded the biggest estate she had ever seen. Gabriel had taken her to a mansion in the middle of nowhere—a compound that looked more like a menacing fortress. She gripped the handlebars tighter. When she'd first met Gabriel, she got the impression he came from money. Real money. If he had any history with this place, she had guessed right about him, but that didn't make her feel any better.

Gabriel yanked off his helmet as she slowed to a stop at the crest of a hill and she did the same. Rayne breathed in the night air and felt a soft breeze through her hair. She stared at the stone front filled with dark windows that looked like eyes and eerie spires that reminded her of only one place.

"Hogwarts. You've brought me to Potterville."

"I thought you trusted me, Rayne."

When she heard the smile in his voice, she took a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder. The moon had painted Gabriel in its bluish haze and made his eyes more haunting.

"Yeah, I do. Especially now that I know you and Harry are BFFs."

Being a smart-ass helped her deal with the wad of fear knotting in her belly.

"Follow my lead and no questions. Remember?" He put his hands on her hips. "I may not be welcome here."

The Indigo Awakening world starts with real life and research, but once the author’s mind takes over, fictional scenes will hopefully trigger the imagination of the reader. After all, reading is an adventure and calisthenics for the brain, right?

Summary from Goodreads:
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.

Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.

A fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.

A little bit about Jordan ...
Bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Jordan Dane’s gritty romantic thrillers are ripped from the headlines with vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense novels to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag, naming her debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM as Best Books of 2008. She also pens young-adult novels for Harlequin Teen. Formerly an energy sales manager, she now writes full time. Jordan and her husband share their Texas residence with two cats of highborn lineage and two lucky rescue dogs.

4 Infinity Bracelets: (US only)
For anyone who has read an advance copy of INDIGO AWAKENING, you know that a silver infinity bracelet plays an important part in the story. Special bracelets will be given away on the virtual tour so the lucky winners will be part of Rafael’s street family. Rafe’s bracelet was in black leather, but I’ve added a white leather braid as my personal remembrance to you for being in MY family.